Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must have heard about the latest Author Meltdown. It started over the weekend on Goodreads, and it snowballed, like these things always do. I first became aware of the train wreck, when an author friend posted a link to the comments on a one star review, and I tell you this was me.

I’m afraid my first response was to wonder if that author had forgotten to take his meds that day. I shan’t link to it, or name him, as quite frankly I don’t want to give that sort of appalling behaviour any more publicity, but in a nutshell…

This particular author took great offence at a one star review he had received. The reviewer simply stated that she didn’t care for the writing or the book, and that it was a shame, because it had sounded promising. (I’m paraphrasing here.)

That was her opinion and she is perfectly entitled to state that. What then happened was an author melt down of epic proportions that eventually got this author’s comments deleted by Goodreads. I’m not sure if he was banned, but, to be perfectly honest, he should have been, because he turned this into a personal attack on the reviewer.

*shakes head*

No author likes to get one star reviews… Heck, I vividly recall the first one I ever received. It was on Amazon, and I cried. Yes, really. In fact it severely shook my confidence in writing, but I got over it. And I certainly didn’t harangue that reviewer for expressing her opinion. I didn’t agree with it either, naturally my book was a masterpiece, and she was completely wrong in her assessment… 😉

I’m joking btw!

I’m not that self-absorbed that I would ever think there isn’t always room for improvement, and I have in fact learned from constructive negative reviews. And in my opinion, at least, it’s always good to see a range of reviews on a book. Let’s face it, not everyone is going to love your work, and even if you love a particular author, there will be some works that you might not like.

I know one of my favourite authors has a very succesful series, that just leaves me cold. I read the first book, persevered with the second, and then gave up, and you know there is nothing wrong in that.

Admittedly I didn’t leave her a bad review, I didn’t leave any, because it’s my personal ethos that if I can’t leave a good review, I simply won’t review the book. And to be fair, it very rarely happens, nowadays that I even read a book that doesn’t appeal. My reading time is too precious for one 🙂

However, there are plenty of people who do leave negative reviews and again, there’s nothing wrong in that. The world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same thing. Which brings me nicely to Diva authors.

You know the ones… hey loook at me, don’t you know who I am, how dare you disagree with me.

Well, lovely author, I couldn’t give two hoots about who you are that sort of attitude turns me off an author faster than milk sours in the heat.

I mean, really, as my dear old gran used to say,”Their shit smells just as much as mine does.” 😉

They’re the ones that demand a review company does not publish a review that is less than 4 stars, and rallies their street team to mark down reviews as unhelpful, when they don’t agree with what that review says

(Now, I’m not talking about abusive reviews, here. They do, of course need reporting and taking down, because there is no call for it.)

But your ordinary, didn’t care for this book review… yeah guess what…that’s life, so get over it already.

Now don’t get me wrong, I rant as much as the next author about low reviews, one star drive bys etc, but I do that in private with my husband and my crit group and usually with a good dose of self depreciating humour thrown in. Never helps to take yourself too seriously in my humble opinion.

And I wouldn’t dream about crying to my reader group about that mean review I got. I do give out review copies and ask for honest reviews. And that’s what any author should want to receive – honesty.

I’ve heard it say that reviews are a big deal, especially on Amazon. Now, don’t ask me how that all works, but apparently you need a certain amount of reviews for Amazon to start promoting your book for you. It means that some authors have taken to buying reviews to gain visibility.

Where does that all leave little old me? Well, I shall carry on doing what I have been doing from the moment I signed my first contract, and that is to keep on writing. I want to tell the stories in my head, and I get a real kick out of knowing that folks out there like to read them. I have a real squee moment with every good review I get, or a comment on FB, an e-mail, etc to say they enjoyed my book, or indeed if they didn’t.

Well that’s less of a squee, and more of an Oh dear, and thank you for taking the time to let me know this one didn’t work for you moment.

I’ve learned long ago that you can’t and shouldn’t want to please everybody. It’s an impossible task, so I just concentrate on writing the best stories that I am capable of, and what will be will be.

Panther Magic released last week. Now come on, you knew I had to get a wee pimp into this post, right?

*grins*

There’s no such thing as magic…

Kate doesn’t believe in it, let alone the panther sort Arran and Zeb Harris are famous for. Using animals in their act is just downright cruel. If only she could convince her libido of that. Instead she seems to have fallen head over heels in lust with those sex-on-legs twin brothers. Getting laid will cure this, surely?

When panther shifters Arran and Zeb scent their mate, they know they’ll have a fight on their hands. The delectable human morsel might be submissive, but Kate has spirit, never mind the small matter she has no idea shifters exist.

They want her submission freely given and not forced upon her by the mysterious mating bond. However, when their panthers kill while rescuing Kate, that bond might well be the only thing to keep them alive.

I think anyone who gets a bad review (1 star) should take comfort in the knowledge that even the best sellers get 1 star reviews. Many of my favourite authors / books have had a host of 1 star reviews along with thousands who sign up to buy their next book on release day.
We are all looking for different things in a book, perhaps the content or the writing style.
On the other hand, mostly I find it odd that a reader would persist with a book that they didn’t like and then to continue to invest energy in it to writ a 1 star review. If it isn’t getting at least a 3 star feel for me I won’t finish it. I won’t review it either.

I don’t want a bunch of bad reviews — no author does — but if my book isn’t up to par for a reader, then I hope they’ll be honest … and give constructive feedback. I can only continue to learn from readers’ feedback, would give me things to look at with each new book, and improve upon.
But saying all that, if a book doesn’t meet your expectation, why finish it then write a scathing review. Give it a one star and simply state DNF (did not finish), which works for me as well.
Everyone has an opinion and each is entitled to theirs. I take the good and leave the bad behind. Dwelling on it does nothing but put a damper on my day, and there’s always the next story to write. *g*
Great post, Doris!

Doris, I read that review as well as some of the author’s comments and was astounded at his response to not only the reviewer, but also those coming to her defense. It was like a train wreck, in my opinion.
I, like you, don’t usually leave bad reviews. I try to find something that I enjoyed about the book, and may state in the review what my issue with it was, but only give it 3 stars. If it is that bad, I won’t finish it or review it. I have had 2 that I received that were, to me, so bad I couldn’t finish, but couldn’t bring myself to write a review. One was because of so much religiousness in the book, it became about that and not the story. Another was all over the place and kept going back and forth through different characters and scenarios in the middle of the story with no warning and from 1st person POV.
Ah, well. Everyone has the right to their opinion. Right? 🙂
My Sensei tells us, “What other people think of me, is not my business.”. I get it. It makes sense. If we live our lives to please everyone, we will end up losing ourselves and never being truly happy.
Thank you for sharing your opinion.
Congrats again on the new release!!